The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1887-02-26
FICTION IN POLITICS.

i
| Tho ridden Letter, the Vest Case and |
the Presidents Message.
There is ordinarily little use in pay
ing any attention to political announces
ments unless the evidence is concu.
sively given. The art Of correct state
ment in print about leaders and parties |
has disappeared from almost every
newspaper. If politician says thing |
himself in letter or q speech that is
one thing. If in any journal, which
he can not be suspected of making his
medium, an announcement Is made
concerning him, the announcement
may be accepted as certainly incorrect.
No list of current inaccuries can be
made complete. A few signal ones,
however. can be referred to.
Shortly after Mr.. T'ilden's death, for
instance, writer on the New York
Sun, A. NJ. Gibson, said that Mr.. Til
den had mailed to President Cleveland
a copy of his (Mr Tilden's) letter on
coast defenses, which was formally adj
dressed to Speaker Carlisle. Mr.. Glib
son said: 'Mr. Tilden read to me the
letter himself and in my presence dis
patched copy to Mr. Cleveland"
This was written long after the letter
had become public, and shortly subse-
quent to Mr.. Tilden's death. The in
tention was to acquit Mr. Tilden of the
charge that had been brought against
him at the time of the publication of
the letter, to the effect that he had
taken good deal ON himself in adj
dressing Congress through the Speak
er, in advance of the Presidents mes
sage, on National subject, over the
Presidents head. Mr.. Tilden had never
met the charge. John Bigelow, Man
; ton Marble and Andrew H. Green had
never refuted it. They were the men
of all men who would be expected to
do so, for they did much of Mr.. Til
denis writing business for him. G. w.
) Smith, Mr.. Tilden's secretary, has
never met that charge. A. M. Gibson
sought to meet it with an explicitness
that was unmistakable. His statement
) was accepted and commented on adj
, vGsely to Mr.. Cleveland by all the anti
Cleveland papers, among which was
many paper that had been anti-Til-
den, until it could use a mock respect
; for Tilden as q club with which to hit
: Cleveland.
The fact that the IN en- reported to be
,, nearest to Mr.. Tilden never dealt with
this matter has been referred to to at
tach to Mr.. Gibson's statement this APP
; pendix: Mr.. Cleveland never received
any copy of that letter from Mr.. Til
den or any one else The first he ever
: saw of it was when he opened the
! morning papers and found it in them,
; The authority for this statement is the
President himself. He is not liar.
j He is not dead. No one need wait un-
|, til after his death to deny that he re-
ceived it or inquire of others than he
G whether he ever received it. He is
$ alive. He can be asked any time.
Y This declaration is made without any
design of rejecting on A. M. Gibson's
certainty that he saw the letter mailed
y to Mr.. Cleveland. 1t may have mis-
carried. The man to whom it was in.
y trusted for mailing may have lost it
a The only thing that is surely Il fact in
q the case is that Mr.. Cleveland never
" received that letter. He never
II adopted and never has concerned him
q self about the theory of having beel
q sighted by the fact of the letter no
having been sent to him. Small sug
gestions do not affect him. But he ha
@ an opinion of that comment which ha
z been based on the allegation that HI
did receive the letter and took NO no
- tice of it.
y" Another statement has been as posi-
- lively made to the effect that the Presi
l. dents sister, Miss r. +. Cleveland
10 wrote that part of his first messag
about Mormonism. The statemen
was made in way to be offensive t.
the President and the lady. 1t coul
not have been more positively mad
p had it been made by either or both G
te them. 1t was and is an an absolutel
81 truthless statement. The lady kne,
"a nothing about that or any other pal
lv of the message until she read it in tn
to papers. Intrinsically the state ment
a true or false, was unimportant. MOI
a, ally it has the character which any ell
Of tirely false declaration, large or small
9 has. The squibs, slurs, arguments
,.o tions and overt or covert sneers bui
e up on this often-reiterated lie have nc
w. been few. They are multiplied COZ
~ stantly. A quiet man in Washing
% ton and studious lady at Hollan
-, Patent know at least two things: Ont
~ that the statement is an untruth; two
~ that those who originate it and periot
90 ically reissue it are aware that it is a
-. untruth. Of that impurity of the min
IN which lie denotes, they also have a
or opinion.
nd AS often and as specifically as the tw
%. declarations indicated are made appear
,,s another to the effect that Mr.. Dani
,e' Manning developed Grover Cleveland ,
m. a candidate for Governor at Syracuse.
~, 1882, and elected him to the offic
nt Mr.. Manning controlled the Alban
an delegation at that convention. III
IL delegates voted against Cleveland Q
No every ballot from first to last in th
No. convention-one man excepted, Ruff
h1o w. Peckham, who insisted On voting fl
,at I him and who did it alone. The eleve
,oo others voted for Slocum on every ba
~ s,,o f,>